The face of evil

It’s not what you would think. It’s not unspeakable ugly nor is it undeniable beautiful. It’s not the face of a monster or the bogey man from our childhood nightmares.

But it is evil.

It is the face of a friend, a neighbor, a father, a brother and an uncle. It is the face of a loved one and it is the face of contempt and hate.

You can not see the evil in his face. But what of the eyes… what do you see there?

Can you see the unspeakable deeds he committed? Can you see the callousness and deliberate action of pulling the shotgun trigger time… and time… and time again?

The face of evil existed on 16 May 1941 and his name was Virginius “Dink” Carter.

Virginius "Dink" Carter was charged and convicted of the mass murder of Johnson and Nina Agrue, their sons, William and Leo and their 11yo granddaughter, Mary Breeden on 16 May 1941 in Dearborn County, Indiana.

Can you please share more of this story or may I have your contact info? Johnson and Nina Agrue are my great-grandparents. One correction: the sister’s name was Leona. She and Leo were twins. Unless Mary is another sister I don’t know about but he was married to Leona at the time of the murders.

After some more searching, I found that Mary was two years older than Leona and yes Carter was married to her first. Mary was also married again after her and Carter divorced. It is interesting to hear why he committed the murders because the story I have heard through the years related it to money with no mention of the sister Mary. Do you remeber anything about the song you had previously mentioned?

Hello then! There was another sister also, little Mary’s mother, Hazel (Bessie) Agrue. I have actually quite a bit of info on the murder and I’d be happy to tell you about it. One bit of info…. I don’t believe that Dink actually divorced Mary before he married Leona… they had been having an affair first. I’d actually like to track down what happen to Mary’s mother after her death and maybe you can help me out with that. Are there any of their siblings alive? My direct email is rienik@comcast.net.

my grandmother was beatrice agrue miller.she was married william.they had two chidren lillie who was 3 and anthonywho my grandmother was carring.allie please email me .. tdobbins1966a@aol.com would love to chat

Yes This happened at the bottom of the first hill on Laughery Road . There are two long hills on this road. At the bottom of the first one is Agrue Holler . There is a little bridge that crosses the holler and if you walk to the left of the bridge you will be going up the holler and after a short walk you will come to the very location of the house. I have been there many time , have coon hunted on the property. I am 73 years old and the house was still there when I was in my twenties. They were looking for the gun that did the killing and my dad was there at the time and a big locus tree was in the yard and my dad made the statement ” The gun is probably in that tree.” well that’s where they found it.
The law arrested Dink Carter in a bar in Lawrenceburg IN. that was on Walnut street , the lower end near the river.

I have been to the court house and there is lots of info on the whole thing. I did find out that I live just 4 miles from where this happened..there is not really a address as there is not a house there anymore…2 run down barns set on one side of the road and there is an half burnt building and old round bails. Cant remember the names of the ppl that now own it but I think there last name is Mills ….you can go to the Dearborn County Court House and get all the info you want on it…

Hello! I am the granddaughter of Hazel (Bessie) Agrue. Mary was her daughter. My father is Bessie’s son. I would love to find more relatives to talk to. My grandmother kept all the newspaper articles of the trial.

I just spoke to my father. Hazel was another sister and Bessie, my grandmother, are two different people. Dink was “fooling around” with Leona while still married to Mary. But the two sisters were not there at the time of the murders. All in all, my father believes there were 7 children of Johnston & Nina Agrue

Good answer, rienik. Sarah, who are you? Are you related to any of the family? Rienik is right, some things take time to gather the correct information! AND, some thing belong exclusively within the family and not for the general public (I’m just sayin’).

Sarah, I’m not sure what the issue here. The only question you have asked is what the address was and I don’t know yet. It was way before my time and I am researching it. This is MY personal blog based on the research of my family. You’re more than welcome to visit and read the stories if you are interested but I do ask that you be respectful of all who post here. If you are interested in the murders and I am not moving as quickly as you would like, you know where a lot of the information is located as you have stated above and are free to analysis the available documents and come to your own conclusions.

Just a quick note, I have had several medical issues since I last posted. I have had some conversations with my father, Marvin Lee Breeden. He was the son of Bessie Agrue Breeden and brother of Mary Breeden. Mary was shot by “Dink” on the farm. Aunt Mary was with Bessie and Marvin in Chicago when this happened. My grandmother had all the newspaper articles in a scrapbook which as soon as I am able, I will get and share with “reinik” first. She will decide what she wants to share on this site. Sadly, my father passed last September 15, 2012. We will get the final details when I can get down to his home to pick them up. BTW….. Dink did stop at Mary’s house in Chicago before heading down to the Agrue farm. He stole my father’s (4 years old at the time) money, just a couple dollars. The reason he went to the farm was to steal more money. I think it was around 79$. But my father said Dink thought there was lots of money buried at the farm.

The Agrue family were first cousins to my grandfather. The house that the murders occurred in burned years ago. My mother has 2 detective magazines from the 1940’s with article about the murders. I have been to the cemetery in Aurora, IN where they are all buried. Interested piece of family history

I am related to this family. Grew up hearing those sad stories. They didn’t have money to loan him, anyway to much to type as I have arthritis. Email me, better yet call. 502-732-0055, not home…leave message.